Chapter 46 I Did Nothing Wrong
Savannah was about to explain herself because she thought Agatha wanted her to kneel, but soon she realized that Agatha was glaring at Clara instead.
Clara widened her eyes unbelievably and pointed at herself, asking, “You want me to kneel, Mom? I’m not the one who embarrassed the whole family!”
“Kneel.” Agatha’s expression remained, but her voice became much sterner.
Clara eyed Savannah angrily. Reluctant to kneel before Savannah and Emmett who were younger than her, she retorted, “Why should I kneel? I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Fetch me the financial statement for Mashion in my room,” Agatha ordered Mary who had just returned to the dining room.
Clara broke into cold sweat upon hearing that while Madelyn stood aside and watched the drama unfold quietly. After all, she was only here to join the fun and had nothing to do with it.
Savannah was puzzled as well. Wasn’t she going to be attacked because of that video?
Why does Agatha reprimand Clara instead?
Agatha calmed down and smiled. “You’re just in time, Clara. I will have invited you to come over even if you don’t show up today. If you still refuse to kneel, I doubt that Brooklyn’s punishment will be as simple.”
“What’s wrong with you, Mom? Savannah has only been your granddaughter-in-law for a few days whereas I have been your daughter-in-law for decades. How can you trust an outsider instead of Brooklyn and me? What have we done?” Clara faked innocence and hoped that Agatha was only scaring her.
When Mary handed a file to Agatha, the latter tossed it to Clara and spat, “See for yourself. What has Brooklyn done when I left the company in her hand?”
Turning pale, Clara’s knees gave way the moment she saw the numbers on the financial statement which were highlighted with red markers.
“Forging financial statements, cutting costs on materials, stealing designs, and selling counterfeits to low-end markets! What the hell are you thinking? Are you planning to destroy Mashion for your own wealth? The numbers on this statement are enough to sentence Brooklyn to jail for a good ten years.” Agatha didn’t mince her words.
By the time Agatha finished, Clara was already kneeling and hanging her head low. “This isn’t true, Mom! It must be somebody scheming to frame Brooklyn. She will never do such horrible things, please investigate it thoroughly!”
“I know Brooklyn isn’t capable of doing such things,” Agatha said, “How will she know such deceitful actions when she’s just a fresh graduate? Do you really think I’m unaware that you’re the one behind this?”
Clara sobbed undignifiedly for she had never imagined that things would turn out this way.
In fact, Clara and Brooklyn were the ones who instructed Maisie to get Savannah into trouble because they were jealous of her.
They even sent someone to follow Maisie and report to them, but Maisie turned out to be a disappointment because she made her peace with Savannah after talking to her briefly. In the end, Maisie was escorted out by Mashion’s security guard.
Luckily for Clara and Brooklyn, they managed to get a video from the stalker they sent. After discussing their plan last night, they got someone to post the video online and hired a group of internet trolls to spread the video to tarnish Savannah’s reputation. All that work was to make Agatha lose her trust in Savannah so that they can gain control of the company again.
The video went viral a few hours after it was posted in the morning.
However, Clara had to visit Agatha personally to show her the video because she didn’t use any apps on the phone. Also, Agatha hardly used her phone other than to call someone else.
As soon as Clara told Madelyn about the video when she bumped into her on the way to Agatha in the main house, the latter started to badmouth Savannah too.
Hence, both of them came to the dining room in hopes of witnessing Agatha’s disappointment in Savannah. To Clara’s dismay, she was reprimanded in the end.
As Clara realized that her plans backfired, she admitted, “I was wrong, Mom. Please forgive me and don’t call the police, I won’t do it again…”
Glaring at Clara angrily, Agatha scoffed, “You are incapable of doing anything else other than causing a ruckus ever since you married Lincoln! Thanks to you, my son has achieved nothing in life! How dare you ask for my forgiveness?”
Sprawling before Agatha and clutching her leg, Clara begged, “Please, Mom. We’re family after all. What will happen to Lincoln and Brooklyn if something happens to me? Our family needs me!”
“Well, I won’t pursue the matter if you return all the money you acquired from Mashion through illegal means,” Agatha said.
Savannah was amazed by Agatha’s ability to get the problematic financial statement because she was only discussing the handling of accounts with Javon yesterday.
Stealing a glance at Emmett, Savannah realized that he had probably known about it because he didn’t seem surprised at all.
Clara gritted her teeth and said, “Okay, we’ll return it, but some of the money was used by Lincoln on investments. We may not be able to return it at once.”
“How much can you return?” Agatha didn’t intend to let her off easily.
Clara counted, then replied, “I can only return two million.”
Agatha didn’t say a word. Glancing at the financial statement, Madelyn asked sarcastically, “Only two million? I don’t believe that’s all you can manage to return. No wonder you have so many luxury handbags and jewelry. I initially thought that Lincoln hit the jackpot, but now it’s clear that the money came from Mom’s company!”
“What do you mean?” Clara glared at Madelyn angrily because they made an agreement that Madelyn would help Clara.
However, Clara was betrayed by Madelyn before Savannah even said anything.
Madelyn didn’t expect Clara’s plan to embarrass Savannah backfired either, but she was jealous of Clara and Brooklyn who benefitted from Mashion.
Even though Madelyn’s husband was in charge of Quaker Corporation, Madelyn didn’t get much from it. How was she supposed to feel good when she found out that Clara had been stealing so much from the company?
“We may be family, but we have our own problems to settle. If everyone in our family blurs the line between work and personal matters like you, it’s only a matter of time till Quaker Corporation goes bankrupt,” Madelyn snapped.
